ganis1700037_mk.JPG
Sid Ganis, president of the Motion Picture Academy, was photographed at his Bolinas home on 12/29/06.
Mike Kepka / The Chronicle Sid Ganis (cq) the source MANDATORY CREDIT FOR PHOTOG AND SF CHRONICLE/ -MAGS OUT

Photo: Mike Kepka

ganis1700037_mk.JPG
Sid Ganis, president of the Motion Picture...

Image 2 of 5

�Academy President Sid Ganis and Oscar winning actor George Clooney at the Nominees Luncheon for the 78th Academy Awards. Photo by TIM LONG DIGITAL IMAGE

�Academy President Sid Ganis and Oscar winning actor George...

Image 3 of 5

�Academy President Sid Ganis and Master Chef Wolfgang Puck at a preview of the food and dZ�cor for the Governors Ball to follow the 78th Academy Awards. DIGITAL IMAGE

�Academy President Sid Ganis and Master Chef Wolfgang Puck at a...

Image 4 of 5

�Best Picture nominee Steven Spielberg is greeted by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Sid Ganis at the Governors Ball after the 78th Annual Academy Awards at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, CA on Sunday, March 5, 2006. CREDIT: LONG PHOTOGRAPHY

�Best Picture nominee Steven Spielberg is greeted by Academy of...

Image 5 of 5

�Academy President Sid Ganis and Oscar winning performers DJ Paul, Juicy J and Frayser Boy of Three 6 Mafia at the Nominees Luncheon for the 78th Academy Awards. DIGITAL IMAGE

�Academy President Sid Ganis and Oscar winning performers DJ...

Sure, the film business is cutthroat, but it also has heart, says industry leader Sid Ganis, who seems to have a lot of heart himself

Sid Ganis has a 4 a.m. makeup call Tuesday. While it's hard to envision this most low-key and avuncular of gentlemen slathered in Pan-Cake and powder, it goes along with being the public face of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

As president of the 5,830-member organization, Ganis will announce its choice of Oscar nominees with co-presenter Salma Hayek 90 minutes later on national television. He'll be the first one outside the accounting firm tabulating the results to see them and will have a half hour to rehearse the correct pronunciations of tongue-twisting foreign names. "Last year, my 2 1/2-year-old grandson saw me on TV and turned to his mother and said, 'Papa said 'Wallace & Gromit,' " he said, referring to the eventual winner for best animated feature.

Ganis, 67, is chatting amiably over a salad Nicoise at a Union Street restaurant. He's spending the holidays with family at what for the last 19 years he's considered his real home in West Marin although, to his regret, running a production company requires him to be in Los Angeles most of the year.

His involvement in the industry goes back almost a half-century and includes stints as head of Paramount Pictures, senior vice president of Lucasfilm and bit actor. He's appeared in several Adam Sandler comedies, most recently as his shrink in "Click."

"I produced two of his movies, and he looks on me as a good luck charm," Ganis says, running a hand through his salt-and-pepper hair. "When he needs an older Jewish guy, he calls on me. I was in 'Life with Father' in junior high in Brooklyn, and I've never gotten acting out of my system."

Nor has Ganis gotten over a love of movies. He's the least jaded Hollywood bigwig imaginable, which makes him a perfect academy president -- a position he's been elected to twice after 19 years on the board of governors representing the public relations branch. The presidency is "something I've wanted actually for a long time, and my colleagues on the board felt it was a good time for me," he relates. "When you get right down to it, the academy is a public relations company for movies."

Ganis becomes visibly excited talking about his favorites of 2006, like the almost-certain nominee he just saw that affirms that "artistic greatness is safe and sound." Mentioning specific titles would be impolitic, although he will allow that, bucking last year's trend favoring smaller films, the major studio releases "Dreamgirls" and "The Departed," are likely to be best picture contenders.

He also affirms that this could be Martin Scorsese's turn to win best director after five nods. "It's apparent that Marty has been making fine films for years and years and years," though, ultimately, Ganis hastens to add, his work on 'The Departed,' not longevity, will be the deciding factor.

To his mind, the number of Brits (and a possible Spaniard) likely to be up for best actress in no way reflects the quality of acting in this country. "I know there are absolutely brilliant American actresses, but sometimes the material isn't as fine as they are." Critics' Top 10 lists have been all over the place, creating a sense that there's no obvious front-runner for best picture. "There is much more of a breadth of films this year than ever before," Ganis believes. "I think the quality is where it should be. Some of the films are safe. Some are tough to watch. The material is pretty negative, but as storytelling, they're brilliant.

"Academy members have their biases. Sometimes it's too much violence, especially when they see (the movies) collectively. I don't like to be pounded over the head with violence. If it's justified, fine. But the gratuitous stuff, never." As much as possible, personal issues are swept aside at voting time. For instance, despite Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic comments, Ganis said he would vote for "Apocalypto" "if I thought the art of Mel Gibson was worthy. First and foremost academy members judge the material."

In the interest of giving every potential nominee a fair shake, Ganis crusades to get voters to watch movies on a big screen, as they were made to be seen. When it comes to selecting a winner (voted on by the entire academy as opposed to nominations, which are decided on by colleagues, such as only actors voting for actors), Ganis strongly suggests people abstain if they haven't seen all the nominees in a category.

Last year, it was obvious that "Brokeback Mountain" would win, except that it didn't -- proving his point that when almost 6,000 people representing every aspect of moviemaking weigh in, there's no such thing as a sure thing.

"You can never, ever tell. You can lobby and take out ads and send stuff, but it's always a surprise." Changes are planned for the Feb. 25 Oscar telecast. "We want to impress on the nominees that, number one, please, please, please do not come up carrying a piece of paper with everyone to thank. It's only going to get you off (the air) quicker," Ganis says. Instead the academy will utilize the Internet to stream laundry lists of a winner's agent, publicist, childhood friend, hairdresser, etc. Their names "will go out practically simultaneously" with an acceptance speech. Presenters no longer will be given a valuable gift basket, which in some cases included an all-expense paid trip to a destination of their choice.

"The IRS made it clear to us that there are heavy-duty tax implications. The academy settled with the IRS so none of the (previous) presenters will be penalized in any way." TV watchers don't get to see what transpires at the Kodak Theatre during commercial breaks, when celebrities make a quick dash down the aisle to congratulate a newly minted winner. Even though it is a "good meeting place" with everyone who is anyone gathered together, "you don't do any business there whatsoever. It's a celebration," Ganis emphasizes.

"You know, people say it's a cutthroat business we are in. It is, but it's with a heart." Last year, after "Crash" became the unexpected winner, everyone from the film came to the Governors Ball "and all hell broke loose. Attendees couldn't wait to congratulate them." Director Ang Lee, whose movie lost for best picture, also showed up. "Again, you're talking about a man with a heart, who couldn't have been more generous and sweet to the 'Crash' guys," Ganis recalls.

He and Laura Ziskin, who is managing the Herculean task of producing the telecast while in postproduction on "Spider-Man 3," want the Academy Awards to be a true forum for the nominees and are thinking of ways to keep them continually entertained. "It's first for the group of men and women who have been nominated. The words are for them, and then, surrounding that, we have to put on one hell of a good show." Much of that depends on the master of ceremonies. Last year, his wife, Nancy Ganis (his producing partner on "Akeelah and the Bee" and other films done through their company, Out of the Blue Entertainment), came up with the inspired idea of inviting Jon Stewart. Ziskin thought of Ellen DeGeneres.

"Ellen's representatives had come to us over the past two or three years and said she would love to do the Oscars. This year it just felt right for her. She is so enthusiastic about doing it," Ganis says.

David Letterman notoriously bombed, and Chris Rock offended many audience members. Does that mean they're permanently blackballed as hosts?

"I wouldn't say that at all," Ganis replies. "Both of those guys could come back one year. In fact, we asked one of them, but he didn't want to do it."

What's his vision of an ideal Oscar show? "It would be a show that television audiences can't wait to watch, and that has a series of films that are outstanding both in terms of box office and creativity, with creativity coming first, and comes off without a hitch (unless the hitches are hilarious) -- I'm on a roll here -- has people accepting the Oscars in the cleverest, most heartfelt way and that isn't three hours and 45 minutes long."